Earlier this week Rutgers-Camden hosted a landmark conference on urban poverty focused on the city of Camden. The convergence of Harvard’s William Julius Wilson (The Truly Disadvantaged), Princeton’s Douglas Massey (American Apartheid), and the University of Minnesota’s Myron Orfield (American Metropolitics), to say nothing of Rutgers convener Paul Jargowsky (Poverty and Place) was unprecedented for … Continue reading In Addressing Poverty, Region Matters…
Cities
New Haven’s “Downtown Crossing” A Start in Rectifying Urban Renewal Fiasco, but Where’s the Neighborhood?
The city of New Haven is trying to make up for one of the biggest mistakes to come out of the era of its own heralded program of urban renewal: partial construction of the Oak Street Connector, intended to bring automobile traffic from the newly completed Connecticut Turnpike into the city’s downtown and to towns … Continue reading New Haven’s “Downtown Crossing” A Start in Rectifying Urban Renewal Fiasco, but Where’s the Neighborhood?…
Dire Detroit
Now that Michigan has stepped in to take over the city of Detroit, we can expect even more commentary on the city and its dismal condition. In that process, there is bound to be further comment about Charlie Leduff’s Detroit: An American Autopsy, which quickly ascended onto the New York Times bestsellers list after it … Continue reading Dire Detroit…
Detroit “Finacial Crisis” Worth Watching
Sick of hearing about Detroit? The city is everywhere, in the news, in two shows at the National Building Museum in Washington, now featured in a best-selling book out only a few weeks. We’re heard about the city’s decline forever. Shouldn’t we just forget it? I don’t think so. What happens in Detroit in the … Continue reading Detroit “Finacial Crisis” Worth Watching…
Romney Thwarted in Effort to Integrate Segregated Neighborhoods
Before expressing your disbelief, let me assure you I am talking about George Romney, not Mitt. In this case, it’s not just the son that was not like the father. According to a report today from ProPublica, the investigative reporting site, George Romney’s policy as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to deny water, sewer … Continue reading Romney Thwarted in Effort to Integrate Segregated Neighborhoods…
Looking at the Demise of Pruitt-Igoe, Questions about Public Housing Remain
One of the featured events at the SACRPH conference in Baltimore was a screening of the new documentary “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth,” detailing the rise and fall of the notorious public housing project in St. Louis that was demolished only 17 years after its highly-touted construction in 1955. The American Historical Association has recently recognized the … Continue reading Looking at the Demise of Pruitt-Igoe, Questions about Public Housing Remain…